Labyrinth Sequel Recruits Don’t Breathe Director

TriStar recruits Don’t Breathe director Fede Alvarez to helm a sequel to Labyrinth, the 1986 cult classic movie from Jim Henson. The original Labyrinth movie followed 15-year-old Sarah (Jennifer Connelly), who is lured into a magical world populated by all kinds of fantastic creatures – brought to life through Henson’s iconic puppets – by the Goblin King Jareth (David Bowie) on a quest to save her baby brother. The film, a musical adventure through the labyrinth, was a box office flop, earning back little more than half the movie’s production budget, and received a decidedly mixed reception from critics.

Deadline is reporting TriStar has recruited Don’t Breathe director Fede Alvarez to helm the Labyrinth sequel, from a script co-written by Alvarez and Jay Basu (Monsters: Dark Continent). Alvarez and Basu are reported to begin work on the Labyrinth sequel following production on The Girl in the Spider’s Web (on which they serve as director and writer, respectively), Sony’s continuation of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, which is expected to begin filming this fall. Alvarez said of the Labyrinth continuation:

“Labyrinth is one of the seminal movies from my childhood that made me fall in love with filmmaking. I couldn’t be more thrilled to expand on Jim Henson’s mesmerizing universe, and take a new generation of moviegoers back into the Labyrinth.”

Based on Deadline’s report, it seems Alvarez and Basu’s entry in Henson’s Labyrinth universe will tell a new story – presumably one that doesn’t include Sarah or Jareth since, although Connelly could theoretically reprise her role, Bowie passed away in 2016. Henson himself passed away in 1990, though The Jim Henson Company will be involved in the Labyrinth sequel, co-producing it with TriStar. Beyond those details, though, little is known about Alvarez and Basu’s sequel.

Still, given Alvarez’s decidedly unique directing voice – which has most often been applied to horror films like Don’t Breathe and the Evil Dead 2013 reboot – he’ll no doubt put a wholly new spin on the Labyrinth world. Many of Henson’s productions, including Labyrinth and The Dark Crystal, had darker undertones, and Alvarez seems fully equipped to maintain that darkness while imbuing the film with a hint of whimsy.

Of course, fans of the original may not be excited to see any continuation of the world of Labyrinth, especially since Bowie’s music helped make it the cult classic viewers love today. But, since Alvarez is as much a fan of the original, it’s likely he’ll be able to craft a continuation worthy of Henson’s movie – one that offers a fresh take on the Labyrinth.